Useful Acronyms for Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks

The world of patents, copyrights, and trademarks has its share of acronyms, just like any other field. Although when you see IP, you may think Internet protocol, in the intellectual property realm, IP stands for, well, intellectual property. The following table lists some of the more commonly used acronyms in the IP world:

ARIPO

Western Africa Patent Office

EAPO

Eurasian Patent Office

EFS

Electronic Patent Filing System

EPO

European Patent Office

EU

European Union

IP

Intellectual property

MPEP

Manual of Patent Examining Procedure

OA

Office action (by a patent or trademark examiner)

OAIP

Southeastern African Patent Office

OHIM

Office for Harmonization in the International Market (European
Trademark Office)